How long to Bass live?

[Live.2.Fish]

After seeing FC's giant bass, it got me thinking.  How old is a bass like the one in FC just caught?

 What is the typical lifespan of a healthy bass?  Do they just just keep growing?  When they die, is it usually because of "old age" or disease or what?  

Just curious.

[Fish Chris]

Hey Live, funny I was just talking with a buddy about this. Bass age varies with a lot of factors. Northern strains live longer than Floridas. Florida bass in more moderate climates, like say Nor Cal and So cal, live a bit longer too. As opposed to Mexico bass, which grow very fast, but which are subject to burnout.

I believe that Florida bass in my parts, if they have good, strong genes, good water, and plentiful food throughout their whole lives, can live about 13 or 14 years.

They do grow for 'almost' their entire lives, the exception being right at the tail end of there lifespan, when they get to a point where they can't catch their food (trout) anymore, and then they go downhill really fast, from there.

All of this said, if I had to guess, I'd say my 17.1 was probably about 11 years old...... but I'd like to think she was just a fast growing girl, and was only 10...... 9 would be even more awesome (Largemouths have been shown to grow up to 2 1/2 lbs in a year, but this would be during the fastest growth years of say, years 5 through 8.... big enough to swallow a trout no problem, but fast as lightening too ;-)

Anyway, if I catch her as the new WRB, at 22-6, 5 years from now, we will know why she looked so healthy, young, and clean, at 17.10 lbs :-) Cuz she was only 9 years old !!!  :-)

Peace,

Fish

[XcoM274]

The data I've read shows that the run of the mill Florida Largemouth lives between 8 or 9 years. Optimum conditions like Chris suggested would definitely take it up higher. Northern Largemouth will run 13-15 years, but keep in mind that their growth is stunted big time under the ice. If you just subtract the average ice time for a northern bass from its life it comes out to around the same time as a southern bass lives. I just think of it as the time spent under the ice is like time they don't live. And there is some merit there. They eat very little, they breathe a few times a minute, they can hardly move, and they for sure aren't packing on pounds. As far as how they die, I think they die for a great variety of reasons. Blessed is the bass who lives to the age where it can't catch prey, and blessed further is the angler who catches such a fish, but I think more blame can be put on diseases, stresses like spawning and just getting old in general.

[Guest muddy]

Whatever the strain they live a lot longer when I fish for them

[WRB]

If you are questioning largemouth bass, then the age is dependant of the water temperature they live; the warmer the year round average climate is, the shorter the life spawn.

Oldest bass that I have ever heard of was a smallmouth in Miane; 23 years old. Califronia northern strain largemouth bass, the oldest that I had aged by biologist Larry Bothoff was a San Vincente male bass that weighed nearly 7 lbs and was 17 years old. The 18 lb 11 oz bass, photo somewhere on this site, was 15 years old, also validated by scale study. My PB 19.3 I didn't get a pore scale from and believe it was over 12 years old because the fish was in excellent condition.

All the giants in the bass family are females and spawning is the greatest danger to their health, followed by desease and then being caught and mishandled.

WRB

WRB

[Mattlures]

If that 25.1 is still alive it would be over 17 years old. When Mike Long caught it in 01 it was 10 or 12years old ( I cant remember) so in 06 when it weighed 25.1 it would have been 15-17 years old.

[George Welcome]

Florida GFC: Age and Growth - Growth rates are highly variable with differences attributed mainly to their food supply and length of growing season. Female bass live longer than males and are much more likely to reach trophy size. By age two or three, females grow much faster than male bass. Males seldom exceed 16 inches, while females frequently surpass 22 inches. At five years of age females may be twice the weight of males. One-year old bass average about seven inches in length and grow to an adult size of 10 inches in about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 years. The oldest bass from Florida whose age has been determined by fisheries biologists was 16 year of age. Generally, trophy bass (10 pounds and larger) are about 10 years old.

[Live.2.Fish]

Thanks Guys!  That is exactly what I was looking for.

[roadwarrior]

Smallmouth have dramatically different life expectancies in their southern most habitat. In their northern range, a 5 lb smallmouth may be 10-14 years old and live to be 19-20. In the south, smallmouth can achieve 5 lbs in 4-5 years, but generally only live to be 9 years old, or so.

Besides the gross size, David Hayes World Record (11-15) was an annomally. His fish is 1 pound and 1 ounce larger than the next largest fish every certified (10-14). The reason? The Hayes fish was 13 years old or 3-4 years older than smallmouth in the Mid-South are suppose to live. I hope there is another old fart out there, this time swimming in the Tennessee River!

8-)

[Fish Chris]

small correction.... The 11-15 WR Smallie was 1 lb 1 ounce heavier than the next biggest. Still a huge jump, and I totally agree with you about that fish being an anomily.

Didn't that whole IGFA fiasco with the disqualification, the requalification of the WR Smallie, really bite ???

I'm just going to have to stick a 12 lb'er fair and square, and put that garbage to rest  ;-) .....then the next week I will stick the new WRL, a 23 lb genetic fluke from Nor Cal :-)

Oh wait..... is that my alarm clock I'm hearing ?  ;-)

Peace,

Fish

[roadwarrior]

Thanks! Correction made.

BTW, IGFA requires a new record to be 2 ounces above the old record. So, if you catch a 12 lb smallmouth it doesn't count!  

Maybe if that ever actually happens, they will grant you an exemption.

:

[RoLo]

Based on electrofishing results, the mean age of largemouth bass was 1.5 to 2.5 years (lower in the south).

The maximum expected longevity of a largemouth bass is approximately 8 years, but bass in captivity rarely exceed the age of 6.

Under the most ideal conditions, a bass may live to a maximum of 16 yrs but rest assured, bass that old are as rare as Whooping Cranes.

As a point of interest, a cow that reached 16 years of age weighed only 12.7 lbs, a very stubborn weight plateau indeed.

Also interesting to note is that "buck" bass regardless of advanced age will very rarely exceed 6 pounds.

Therefore, any bass over six pounds is almost certainly a cow.

Roger